We are losing a tiny legend this week.

Sauerkraut, Oklahoma’s own celebrity cat, will be moving to Michigan with her family this Saturday. Sauerkraut has attained social media fame with almost 150,000 followers on Instagram and close to 20,000 on Facebook. Her message is positivity, adopting special needs animals, and foster care. Amy and Partrick Bender, Sauerkraut’s Humom and Pops, have fostered over 400 kittens in the metro. They work closely with Central Oklahoma Humane Society, taking in mostly special needs litters, bottle-feeding and nursing them back to health. There is a bright and cheery cat room in their house, devoted to the tiny balls of fur until they are ready to find their forever home. In fact, Sauerkraut was one of Amy’s foster kittens.

Amy labels herself a “professional volunteer” and that couldn’t be more correct. She has inspired many individuals to open their hearts and homes to foster animals and makes each day brighter with Sauerkraut’s posts on Facebook. The Benders have attended pet events in the metro, including the Internet Cat Video Festival at the Myriad Botanical Gardens. I first met Sauerkraut at this venue and it was love at first sight. She was so little and adorable, sitting in a cat stroller in her pink dress. Sauerkraut has a condition called hypersthesia, which makes the nerve endings on her skin extra sensitive. She wears dresses to calm her and stop her from licking her herself raw. This just makes this dainty, sour-faced cat even more irresistible.

Sauerkraut has been featured on Animal Planet, Time.com, People.com, Huffington Post, Catster, and many more. She has a loyal following of all ages. Amy got a message from a woman who wanted to put Sauerkraut’s picture on her mom’s birthday cake. The mother was turning eighty and adored the little cat. Amy said of course they could use a picture, and even put together a little birthday bag of Sauerkraut goodies to send to the woman. You can learn more about Sauerkraut’s adventures on her website, sauerkrautkitty.com, Facebook, and Instagram.

I visited Sauerkraut at her home for one last interview. I was greeted by Amy, Patrick, Sauerkraut and her siblings: Brock, The General and the elusive motley-colored Molly. I had a bag of catnip toys I made for this group and sprinkled them about the living room. The cats started pouncing on them at once as Sauerkraut looked on from her perch atop a cat tree by the window. As we sat down, she quietly slid out a screen cat door to her special catio in the warm afternoon sun. I talked with Amy and Patrick while The General, a spicy Himalayan kitten, terrorized Brock, a majestically large gray tabby. Brock is a ham and when he tires of The General’s shenanigans, he just rolls over and sits on him. Problem solved. When the The General finally wore himself out and collapsed mid-stretch on the rug, Sauerkraut joined our palaver. She started playing with one of the kicker sticks I made and Amy and Patrick were amazed because she is not usually a fan of toys. This completely made my day. I promised to send her more toys in the future. Knowing this was my last time to interview her in person, I had some deep questions to ask her and her parents.

Sauerkraut, who is your favorite fellow celebrity cat?

Lil Bub, paws down, our messages are very similar and we both want to give back to cats in need.

Sauerkraut, I know you dream of world dominion. What would your first edict be if you achieved this goal?

I would immediately ban declawing cats.

Amy and Patrick, if Sauerkraut’s life was made into a movie, who would she want to be her voice actor?

Amy: Cameron Diaz, because she can be snotty without being mean.

Patrick: I have actually thought about this, and Scarlett Johansson has the right voice.

Amy and Patrick, what will you miss most about Oklahoma?

Amy: The people. I have never lived more than forty-five minutes from the spot I was born at OU Medical Children’s, so it’s going big a big change.

Patrick: She has had a great support group through OK Humane and they’ve done a lot for us and we’ve tried to do a lot for them too. They’re a wonderful group of people. It’s going to be hard to leave.

As hard as it is to see our Sauerkraut move, we know our little Oklahoma native will continue to be an advocate for animals in need and we can still follow her through social media. So farewell, our sweet Kraut. Safe travels and keep up the good work.

On a side note, my husband, Carlos, thinks Kraut’s voice would be best played by Melissa McCarthy and I think Queen Latifah would be the perfect fit. Go figure.